We are now completely sold out of the individual copies of the Limited Edition Hardcover of GURPS Steampunk . . . and the LEH version of GURPS Atlantis just came in. It looks beautiful. I've signed 60 of them so far, and about 40 of those are already sold.

The playtest for David Pulver's GURPS Vehicles Expansion 1 is starting on Pyramid. Tech freaks and gearheads, this book is your friend . . . lots of new gadgets and options, both realistic and super-science.

Eternal life is within your grasp - in fact, it's wrapped around your little fingers. Alex Chiu's Immortality Device is a pair of rings worn around the fingers. They can be coupled with a pair of foot braces for nighttime use, and you can also get the Immortality Neodymium Rings, which are 21 times stronger than, um . . . immortality.

If you're not satisfied with eternal life within 90 days, you can get a full refund.

And all along you thought that we spread and modified all those stupid conspiracy theories because we were agents of evil. Hardly! As you'll see from this BBC story, conspiracy theories are good for society and help us cope. Really! Look at the story! They said this!

Hacker Deluxe Edition will now be an early November release. We're spending the money to have the overseas printer reprint the counters and console sheets on thicker stock - it still won't be quite as heavy as in the original edition, but it will be plenty good enough to play with. This proves the wisdom, expensive though it is, of having overseas printers send a sample by FedEx before putting the whole shipment on the boat . . . I didn't like the samples, and I don't think you would have liked them either. So we're reprinting.

The other part of this expensive lesson, for our friends and competitors who print overseas . . . Always look at a sample before printing, because standards differ, and what an Oriental printer will tell you with a straight face is "12-point board" may be a lot different from what you are used to getting in the USA.
-- Steve Jackson

After about a month of hard, solid art and layout work, GURPS Monsters is almost ready for print. While the book will be printed in B&W, we thought some of you may enjoy a peek at the color work Christopher Shy is doing. (All of the artwork for the book was created in color and I feel like a criminal for converting all of it to B&W for printing.)
Anyway, here is one of the splash pages created for the book. Click on the small image here for a much larger version.

Here's evidence of one dating back more than 300 years . . . It appears that Protestant hero William of Orange, who took the British throne in 1689 and ended Roman Catholic rule in England, was being supported by the Pope. See the Sunday Times story.

The late Paul Linebarger, who wrote as "Cordwainer Smith," was a creator of strange beings and stranger civilizations. Now his daughter has created cordwainer-smith.com in his memory, and an award has been created to honor those who share his spirit.

The cordwainer-smith.com page is still under construction graphically, but the text is in place, and interesting reading for those who love science fiction!

We've just posted our January announcements - lots of new stuff, so take a look. We have also reorganized our New Releases section to make it load faster, now that we're putting out ten or a dozen new things a month. Each month's releases are on a separate page . . . except that for those with a really slow connection, there's also a link that will bring up all new and upcoming releases in text only.

Remember we told you about the Nephilim Resistance Task Force? They're still out there, and it's a good thing, too. Seems these Biblical barbarian giants were disguised as Neanderthal Man the whole time. There may be fossil and even Scriptural evidence, so whatever you do, don't dig them up and clone them.

Here's a sneak peek at one of our January releases - it'll be in the stores in time for Valentine's Day. Eight different . . . oh, DEFINITELY different . . . greeting cards, by eight top fantasy artists. Here's a preview . . .

Online blackjack games may be a dime a dozen . . . but Rusted Faith Design has an amazing one. Their "Rusted Jacks" has individually painted cards (featuring the art of Steve Garofalo), a very slick interface, and three different soundtracks. If you like blackjack, check it out . . .

A researcher at the University of the West of England is ready for field trials of his slug-hunting robot. The device will not only locate and grab slugs (a major farm pest in England), but will take them back to its base station where their decaying bodies will generate gas to refuel the robot. See the BBC story

Warehouse 23 News: What do you get when you cross a knight and his mount?

The United Nations has tried to ban people from traipsing up to the moon whenever they feel the urge and sticking a flag in it, but The Lunar Republic, when established here on Earth, will monitor and adjudicate the uses to which everyone's favorite satellite is put. No longer will its popular landmarks be endangered by growing development concerns.

We have a couple of books ready to be Quarked, and a shortage of layout staff. If you're in or near Austin and good with Quark, and looking for (possibly semi-regular) freelance work, contact Phil Reed: phil@sjgames.com.

One thing that many of us can do, wherever we live, is give blood. Local supplies everywhere are being shipped to NYC now.

Check with your local Red Cross or hospital. They may very well be swamped with donors already. If they are, don't give up. Don't go now and add to the crush . . . check back tomorrow and the next day. The need will continue for weeks.
-- Steve Jackson

A CERN physicist theorizes that the "unstable vacuum" underlying our material universe could collapse at any moment, turning everything to jelly. Or something like that. Don't panic until you read the whole BBC News story.

This was easily the best Worldcon gaming program in years. There was an accessible demo/open gaming area with lots of publisher participation, thanks to policies that made it possible for publishers to participate. Three thumbs up.

I returned to a wet Austin. Apparently the rain quit for the weekend and then came back. I'm not complaining.

I have several hundred e-mails to deal with, so if you have asked me anything (or told me anything) in the last few days, please be patient . . .

Those of you visiting DragonCon or Worldcon this weekend may see Ogrethulhu.
But it's already gotten out once . . . at Dragonflight. Darel Philips and
John Kono ran a BIG game of Ogre
- the
"Exercise K" scenario with a little bug in it. A bug named Ogrethulhu.

Here's the Ogrethulhu Mark V that Darell painted to terrorize the "normal" Ogres. The special non-Euclidean paint makes it look green from some angles and purple from others.
-- Steve Jackson

Ever have a project needing work but you just had to finish this one other thing before you could do anything else? Simon Jansen, he of the ASCII-animated Star Wars, got tired of warm beer while working in his shed and so has built the world's first jet powered beer cooler. Makes you proud to be a New Zealander.